Walking Around Le Petit Pressigny

On Thursday 16 February I met friends for an 11.5 kilometre walk around le Petit Pressigny. Keen eyed readers will recognise it as one we do a couple of times a year.

11.5 km starting and finishing in Le Petit Pressigny, taking 2 hours and 40 minutes, with 112 m of elevation gain.

Former piggery, now semi-abandoned.

A new shed that will have solar panels on the roof is being erected on a farm.

Two nice mature oak trees on the edge of a field.

We walk past some more nice mature oak trees.

A typical landscape for this part of the world.

A barn.

A bit twee, but their daffs are out! A cottage in a hamlet.

An old metal garden gate.

A rather distinctive barn.

The church in Le Petit Pressigny.

Diabolo

 

A selection of syrups in a bar in Chateau-Renault.

A diabolo is an iconic non-alcoholic drink that can be ordered in any French bar by anyone. It is not just for kids. It is often for old blokes who no longer drink alcohol but like hanging out in their local bar. It consists of a fruit flavoured syrup ('sirop' in French, what I would call cordial, but if you are British you would call squash) with old fashioned artisanal still lemonade (ahem...very sweet and not very lemony). 

The diabolo flavours available in a bar in Chateau-Renault. 50c cheaper if you have water rather than lemonade.

The most popular flavour, in my experience, is mint, but also popular are grenadine, strawberry, lemon and blackcurrant. The drink appeared in the 1920s and had its peak of popularity in that decade. They remain popular with the North African immigrant community and during heatwaves.

A Sad Anniversary We Never Thought Would Happen

After a year of war in Ukraine, displaced Ukrainians are busy learning a new language and making sure their kids get an education.

The UN estimates that 9.5 million Ukrainians have fled their country. France has welcomed about 105 000 (compared to 1.5 million in Poland and a million in Germany). 

Some of 'our' Ukrainians singing carols.

Indre et Loire has about 800, and the State is providing housing for 230 of those (half of whom are at Ville aux dames and Amboise). About 350 are in lodgings provided by social agencies and around 200 are being housed by private citizens. The State has spent 3.4 million euros on housing and access to lodgings.

More than 200 children are in school. Last year 231 Ukrainians were enrolled in French as a Foreign Language courses in the Département.

'Our' Ukrainians on an outing to the Chateau of Chenonceau.

The State acknowledges that it would have been unable to manage without the help of volunteer associations and professionals as well as local municipal council members working alongside the Préfecture to make sure all the Ukrainians in the Touraine are welcomed, helped and housed.

No Rain For a Month

France hasn't had much rain since the beginning of the year, and most of France has had no rain at all for a month until yesterday. The soil is at a level of dryness normally only achieved by April after the winter. There was similar weather in 2020, from mid-March to mid-April, at the beginning of the first Covid lockdown, which is more normal. Previously, the longest time without rain in France had been 22 days in 1989. This February will be the driest since records began, in 1959.

The Creuse Valley in early February, drying out.

Last year was a particularly dry year, although September, November and December 2022 had nearly normal rainfall. The winter is crucial to rehydrating the soil and replenishing the reservoirs. This year, not only has there not been enough rain following a drought, but there hasn't been enough snow in the mountains to provide a normal flow in certain rivers.

The Claise River in Le Grand Pressigny in mid-January, looking relatively normal for the season.

The driest winter on record was that of 1988-89, and we have just managed to pass that, but we are still lacking rain and it looks like the winter of 2022-23 will be the 15th driest winter on record. An additional factor is that last year was the longest period since 1947 that month after month (13 consecutive months) were above average temperatures.

Flapi

I photographed this memorial in the park of the chateau/town hall in Chateau-Renault, in case the subject turned out to be an amazingly interesting person. I couldn't be sure at the time though because I'd never heard of Yves Leroy, and had no idea why his nickname might be 'Flapi', or what a crossman was or the USR.

The memorial says: Sports trail Yves Leroy called 'Flapi'. Cross country runner national level. Facilitator at the USR from 1947 to 1978.

It turns out that the memorial was erected for the centenary of the Cross Country and Athletics Sporting Union of Chateau-Renault, in 2020. Yves Leroy was a great cross country champion who devoted his life to the club, from 1947 to 1978, becoming a trainer, and then the president. So, 'cross' is French for cross country running, and a 'crossman' is a cross country runner. So far so good.

Leroy was dubbed 'Flapi' because at the end of a marathon in 1927 he declared to a journalist that 'je ne suis pas flapi'. It would be like an anglophone athlete saying something like 'I'm not knackered'.

The USR is the Union Sportive Renaudine, ie the sports club to which he belonged all his life.

Eglise Saint Ouen les Vignes

The Church of Saint Ouen les Vignes is an 11th century building constructed on the ruins of an earlier chapel. Only the nave remains of the older building.

In 1584, in the reign of Henri III, the church was augmented with four Romanesque arcades.

The church consists of a Romanesque nave covered with a panelled vault supported by visible joists and mouldings from the 15th or 16th century. On the south wall, two semi-cylindrical buttresses, in rather rough masonry, may date from the end of the 11th century. On the west side, a Romanesque door of the same period opens, whose archway decorated with cylindrical mouldings, falling on engaged columns with rather modest capitals. The apse, which was originally flat, was pierced in the 19th century with a round-arched bay opening onto a circular apsidal chapel of the same period. On the north side, a side aisle was added in the middle of the 19th century, opening onto the nave by four arcades. On the outside, a gable in Gothic style with a flamboyant window. At the northwest corner stands a bell tower against which is leaned a wooden porch.

Bourgeois Pears

In the second half of the 19th century a brilliant French horticulturist called Charles Baltet developed dozens of new pear varieties that became known as poires bourgeoises. It is such a curious term that I wondered where it had come from. It was clearly a sort of joke or a cultural reference but what was the background?

It turns out that Louis-Philippe, the last King of the French, who reigned from 1830 to 1848, was rather rudely known as 'le roi-poire', because of his supposed resemblance to the fruit. Charles Baltet's pears must have been considered to be particularly reminiscent of the former King.

So how on Earth did France end up with a piriform King?!

 

Louis-Philippe, from the Orléanist line of the French royal family, came to power as a result of the July Revolution. Initially popular, but as time went on his conservative policies lost popularity and there was an industrial and agricultural recession. He was careful not to appear ostentatious, and became known as the bourgeois monarch. The bourgeois class of industrialists and bankers supported him and during his reign the gap between rich and poor widened.

The press had been liberalised in 1830 and his enemies took full advantage. Criticism and mockery of the sovereign were the burgeoning satirical magazines bread and butter. After only a year or two of this treatment the King took one of the leading cartoonists to court. The cartoonist responded by drawing him as a pear. And a meme had started.

Prior to this the pear had a simple perjorative meaning, used to indicate someone was an idiot, as well as some sexual associations. But after the cartoons appeared people understood the symbolism of the shape of the pear to indicate the bulging base with the narrow top represents the middle class, now the dominant social class. And of course, the literal figure and form of the King.

It wasn't just drawings of pears that proliferated. Puns abounded too, with lots of jokes about the Revolution bearing fruit and so on. Finally an attempt to assassinate Louis-Philippe led an increasingly desperate government to re-introduce censorship laws in 1835 which meant cartoons had get pre-publication approval.

After a valiant campaign aimed at keeping the King and the rich on their toes in the new democracy, the pear finally ran its course, but remained in the cultural memory to be recalled with Baltet's new varieties. Baltet's pears were luscious and sweet, big and bulging, ripe for a bit of social commentary again.

Speaking at the AGM

Me giving a talk about flies. Photo courtesy of Louisette Chaslon.

 

The Association de botanique et de mycologie de Sainte Maure de Touraine held their AGM last weekend and I got to deliver a short talk on flies, and eat lots of crepes.

Coffee, juice and crepes after the meeting.

Bouche-Thomas Fruit Tree Hedges

Edmond Bouché (1889 - 1960) was a student at the agricultural high school at Angers. Professor Thomas taught there and Bouché became his son in law. In 1920 he developed a method of inclined fruit tree hedges which resulted in notable gains in productivity. He published his method in his final work in 1953.

Apple trees at the Prieuré de Cosmes trained in a version of the Bouché-Thomas style.

In this method the trees are planted as 2 metre bare rooted scions at a 30 degree angle, with the graft point buried (very important), 2.5 metres apart (can be more for apples, less for pears), and the branches are positioned at 30 degrees above horizontal. In his original method the trees alternate so they incline in turn to the right and then to the left, but I noticed that they seem to be more often planted all inclining the same way. Once trained the branches form a 30 cm grid. The trees are not pruned, just trained. Edmond Bouché felt that his technique was working with nature, and therefore beneficial to the health of the tree. A 15 year old tree trained like this would produce 50 kg of fruit and be resistant to disease.

Old apple trees at my local organic orchard, trained in something like the Bouché-Thomas method.

Here are the instructions for planting a Bouché-Thomas fruit tree hedge -- in French, for primary school children, from the 1960s...[link]

Want to Buy an Apartment in a Chateau?

Unease is growing over the fate of the old Alfred de Vigny primary school in Loches and the Chateau of Verneuil. Originally the school was to have been converted into a hotel by a developer who subsequently abandoned the project. They have both supposedly been bought now by an investor with Chinese business partners and in both cases the idea is to convert these historic buildings into apartments. But both projects have stalled and there is a question over whether the investor has really bought the properties.

In July of 2019 rumblings started in a Loches town council meeting. Certain council members wanted to know when the investor was actually going to pay for the school. The developer assured journalists that he had paid a 5% deposit for the property, which was valued at €750 000. He declared that if it meant assuaging the concerns of the council he would guarantee only local artisans would work on the project. He has planning permission for a modern annexe to the old school building. It will be constructed of local limestone on a wood frame.

The idea was to sell the apartments off plan, but he pledged to buy the building anyway if the 9 remaining apartments had not sold by October. 

As for the Chateau de Verneuil, empty since 2015 when the horticultural school moved out, that is a more than 1.6 million euro project. The developer says he has transferred a 10% deposit to the owners, the Apprentis d'Auteuil and was to have signed the sales agreement in November 2019. The Chateau, which dates from the 15th and the 18th centuries, is to become a country club. The plan is to build 11 houses of limestone in the grounds, near the Chateau, and 6 apartments at the base of the keep. The developer announced he would be creating a tourist accomodation site unprecedented in the area, to open in 2020.

 

There would be a restaurant of 80 covers in the 18th century chateau, a well-being and fitness centre in the basement, a vaulted cellar to taste the best of the Touraine wines, an 700 square metre orangerie for weddings, seminars and themed evenings, and rooms in the chateau (9 suites on two levels). The old school classrooms will be divided into 9 suites or small apartments. Also part of the grand plans are more unusual accommodation such as gypsy wagons, giant barrels and tipis, as well as a teaching farm based around the old stables with a boutique for local produce, a dude ranch and equestrian centre, and a natural swimming pool, picnic area with barbecue, public gardens and fountains, orchards, vegetable gardens and greenhouses. The former greenhouses of the horticultural school are to be used for training courses. Even archery could be possible. The work was to be done over a period of three years, funded by selling the apartments one by one. With his Chinese business partners the idea is to attract Chinese tourists to come for a few days out of the 10 they will spend in Paris, into the green countryside, with forests, golf and history. Once it's finished the site will employ 25 people. 

The Verneuil sur Indre municipal council couldn't believe their luck.

Now the architect who designed the modern annex intended for next to the Alfred de Vigny school in Loches says he has not been paid the €55 000 he has been owed for two years, so he has gone public and wants to bring the project to a halt. He's tried all the usual methods for getting paid, such as calling the bailiffs in. The developer has tried to fob him off with a series of bills of exchange for €15 000, which the bank subsequently refused to accept. According to the architect the developer has only paid €5000 of the total bill and says that as the developer has not paid for the plans he does not own them and cannot use them. 

In addition, Loches municipal council was left waiting for the building to be paid for. There is a lot of obfuscation from the developer and confusion about just how many apartments have been sold. Finally, after a judicial ruling, the developer handed over a cheque for €750 000 to the council and became the legal owner of the renamed Clos du poete complex. But the architect was stunned to learn from the bailiff that the developer's bank account contained just €6.43, and he has not been paid.

The latest in the string of squabbles associated with this developer and these two addresses is that the residents of Verneuil who are neighbours to the chateau have formally registered their concerns about the developer's possible fraudulent use of the address. He has been living at the Chateau, but his business addresses are all in Loches. His neighbours have been receiving his mail and are fed up. He claims it is a Post Office problem and a mix up with an old 'Friends of the Chateau' association, and that in any case he will be moving out of the Chateau on 15 March.

It is a great shame that these two buildings are being put at risk by financial shenanigans. The Alfred de Vigny is associated with sad events of the Second World War as well as generations of students who passed through the place getting an education. The Chateau de Verneuil is a beautiful complex of buildings that I have long said I would buy in a heartbeat if I had a spare couple of million floating about.

Walking Around La Fontaine

La Fontaine is a hamlet near Le Grand Pressigny in Indre et Loire. On Thursday 9 February I did a 10 km walk with friends around there. Much of the walk is through the forest, crossing from the valley of the Claise to the valley of the Creuse. It was a beautiful day, frosty and clear blue skies.

Gorse Ulex europaeus (Fr. Ajonc) ready and waiting for any bee willing to fly in the cold but sunny weather.

Birch Betula pendula (Fr. Bouleaux) looking ethereal and epitomising northern chill.

All the ponds were frozen. You could throw a stone onto the surface and the ice did not crack.

Frosted fallen oak leaves.

An old farm house and outbuildings. That's frost on the right hand roof pan.

Looking down the Creuse Valley.

The group of walkers - Helene, Louisa, Jean-Jacques, Cécile, Marie, Mathilde, Denise, Joel, Marie-France.

A bracket fungus (Turkeytail Trametes versicolor I would guess).

Young dairy cows who have just been let out to pasture. They came cavorting up to see us after I took this photo. In the background a limestone cliff.

Yes, alright, I forgot to turn the GPS app on at the start of the walk. 10 km, 2 hours 30 minutes, 130 m change in elevation.

Golden Delicious Apple

For more than a century the American apple Golden Delicious has been one of five apple varieties from which new varieties are mostly developed. Twenty percent of modern commercial varieties of apples have Golden Delicious as one of their ancestors. It is a yellow apple, popular all over the world, and now old enough to be considered a heritage variety.

Homegrown apples from our orchard, with Golden Delicious centre rear.

In France it is the most cultivated apple, with more than a third of the French apple crop being Golden Delicious. Commonly referred to as simply 'Golden' in France, its success is down to its ability to meet consumer demands, ease of production and suitability for modern commerce. However, it is frequently criticised by gourmets for its lack of taste and high water content.

It was discovered as a chance seedling in West Virginia in 1890 and originally called Mullins Yellow Seedling. Later, in 1914, it was renamed as Golden Delicious.

 

Organic Golden Delicious apples grown by Fruits O'Kalm on the outskirts of Preuilly.

It blossoms mid-season, in late April, and requires a pollinator such as Akane, Granny Smith, Melrose or Reine des Reinettes. Because of its desirable qualities it is often chosen as the parent when developing new varieties and is the ancestor of popular modern apples such as Jonagold, Gala, Rubinette and Elstar. Orchards need to be aware of this as it means it is not a suitable pollinator for the varieities it is related to.

Trees become productive at three years and fruit prolifically. Although well adapted to drought, it is not adapted to heat and ideally requires a thousand hours of winter frost to produce well.

Locally grown Golden Delicious in the supermarket.

The fruit requires five months to mature properly and should be harvested in September. In storage you can eat it from October to May.

Seedlings will produce good early fruit, but not come true.

Locally grown Golden Delicious in the supermarket.

In France Goldens from two regions are considered particularly high quality and have a certification in place. Apples from the Limousin will proudly bear a little sticker proclaiming them to be 'AOP Pommes de Limousin', and those from Savoie will say 'IGP Pommes et Poires de Savoie'. The latter reflects the fact that the variety thrives in higher altitudes and the fruit from there is higher in quality.

Locally grown organic Goldens.